The Last of Us Part II

The Last of Us Part II is the most polarizing masterpiece in gaming. Naughty Dog made the audacious choice to force players into the perspective of the antagonist for half the game, and it works — if you let it. The combat is visceral and horrifying, Seattle is the most detailed open environment the studio has ever built, and the dual narrative structure creates an emotional complexity that no other game has attempted at this scale. It won more Game of the Year awards than any game in history, and the discourse around it proved that games can provoke the same passionate disagreements as great literature.